Van Gogh's Sunflowers, Published Authors, and Our First Friday Summit!

This week the Whales wrapped up their study on Sunflowers. They started the week learning about Vincent Van Gogh. We learned that people in his town thought his paintings were weird and different. Many people teased Van Gogh for his art. We noticed that Van Gogh did not give up just because other people said his art wasn’t good. We learned that his paintings are very popular, are featured in museums, and cost A LOT of money. The Whales started their art by illustrating a vase that their sunflowers would sit in. To create their sunflowers the Whales used circular sponges and blended brown and black paint to make the middle of their sunflowers. To create the pedals the Whales used paint brushes and a swiping technique. They used a mix of tempera paint and water color to make different parts of their art POP! The Whales will be finishing the last touches to their Van Gogh sunflowers next week and they will be soon displayed in our classroom for everyone to see!

For numeracy, the Whales have been practicing using ten frames, and number writing. They studied the numbers 6, 7, 8, and 9! They practiced using ten frames to show their number. They used two different materials to make their number on the ten frame. This can help visualize two parts becoming one. For sign in this week, the Whales practiced their number writing. We are making sure that our numbers aren’t doing the backwards dance! Have your Whales practice their number writing at home! Here are some rhymes you can use:

-0: Around you go, around you go, that’s the way you make zero.

-1: Straight line down, and then we’re done. That the way to make the one!

-2: Round and back across the railroad track. Two! Two! Two!

-3: Around a tree, around a tree, that’s the way to make a three!

-4: Down and over and down some more, that’s the way we make a four!

-5:The bee goes down, around the hive, then dives across to make a five!

-6: Around the clock until it ticks, that’s the way to make a sox!

-7: Across the sky, then slant the line, makes a seven every time!

-8: Make an S and do not wait, go back up to make an eight!

-9:First a circle, then a line, that’s the way to make a nine!

In Writing, the Whales helped Ms. Abby add details to her illustration. We noticed that we can always add more details to our illustration even if we think we are done! It’s AMAZING! The Whales are starting to publish their first stories! When they are finished with their story and have done some editing with a teacher, they get to add a cover! They create a title, and get to decide what genre their story is. They stamp the date on their cover and put it into our Whale Author basket! The Whales are so excited to fill our basket with fun and creative stories!

On Friday, the ELC had their very first Friday Summit! Friday Summit is a new tradition that the ELC will be doing every Friday morning. During Friday Summit, the whole school meets together. We do a song, a land acknowledgement, and as we get more into the year, each class will get to share the learning that they are doing in their classrooms. We call this our Summit because we talk as a community about the “hill’s we have climbed” that week, when we share our classroom updates. Ask your Whale about their favorite part of Friday Summit!